The Mousy Girl of Konoha High
by pink136
Summary: Shy, unnoticeable Hinata is transfered from her private academy to Konoha High after her father insists she isn't worthy of attending such a prestigious school. Despite her fears, Hinata is noticed right away and makes some new friends, including a certain Naruto Uzumaki. Everything is going better than she could have ever hoped, but will her jealous cousin Neji try to ruin that?
1. Chapter 1

**Wow, this is the first thing I've written in forever! i did this VERY quickly, so I apologize for any gramtical errors or characterization issues. I promise the next chapters will be MUUUCH better, but I just wanted to get this started. Please, review, comment, constructive criticism, etc! i hope you like it or at least have fun laughing at how sucky it is!**

Hinata Hyuga took a deep breath. In. out. In. Out. Now, somebody who didn't know the girl may have wondered why she was standing in front of Konoha High's main door, looking like a deer in headlights. Of course, nobody but her older cousin actually knew her, as today was her first day away from her fancy-schmancy private academy and in good old public school.

Hinata took a tentative glance around, and then entered the building slowly after she reassured herself that nobody was staring at her. Neji had promised to meet her half an hour before school started to show her around, but she was beginning to think he had only said that to appease her father. After all, there were only ten minutes left before class started and she hadn't even picked up her schedule yet!

She soon found herself in the front office, staring at the secretary with what must have been sheer panic stamped on her face.

"Oh, you must be the new student here! Neji's cousin?" The woman inquired in a friendly manner. Hinata noted that the nametag pinned on her crisp grey button-up shirt read SHIZUNE. She could only nod in reply.

"Great." Shizune smiled. "Here is your schedule. You can ask any of the students around here for directions, but I'm sure Neji already has that taken care of. Have a nice day!" With that, Shizune had turned back to her computer and seemed utterly engrossed in checking her email (which Hinata noted mainly consisted of spam and chain-mail).

"T-thank you." Hinata barely uttered before walking back into the now-crowded hallway. She looked around desperately for Neji, for anyone with a halfway friendly face, because there were only five minutes left before first period started and she really had no idea where she was supposed to go. The hallways were large and confusing-there were no signs anywhere!

Hinata continued stumbling around, confused, when she realized with a jolt that she was no longer standing, but had been knocked over and was laying haphazardly in the middle of the hall.

"NARUTO, YOU IDIOT!" She heard a high-pitched, angry female voice yell, and a girl with pink hair suddenly appeared at Hinata's side, fuming.

"I-I'm so, so v-very sorry." Hinata managed before she realized the girl was not yelling at her. The pink-haired girl looked down at her sympathetically and held a hand out.

"I'm so sorry about that. That was just Naruto, he was being dumb." The girl pulled Hinata to her feet. "Hey, you're new here, right? Neji's cousin? I'm Sakura." She smiled.

Hinata managed a shy smile back, and a boy popped up by her side.

"Hey, sorry about that back there." He rubbed the back of his blonde head sheepishly and grinned. Hinata felt her knees goes just a bit weaker, if that was possible in her current state of embarrassment and anxiety.

He pointed a finger to himself, and Hinata noticed he had a strange set of whiskers on his face. "Naruto Uzumaki!"

Sakura rolled her eyes and glanced at Hinata's schedule, which she had been clutching so tightly that it was now wrinkled.

"Hey, you have first period with us! Come on, let's go! You can't be late on your first day of school." With that, Sakura and Naruto took off, Hinata only a few steps behind them, desperate to catch up and not be left to fend for herself in the chaotic hallway.

Soon enough, they arrived at a messy language arts classroom. Hinata was slightly surprised that there was only about half the class present, although the bell was bound to ring in a few minutes.

Sakura seemed to notice Hinata's confusion.

"Oh, Kakashi is the teacher for this class. He's always at least ten minutes late, usually fifteen. Most kids don't get here until after the late bell rings." Sakura sank into a seat near the front of the class, next to a blonde girl. Hinata shyly took the seat next to Sakura, hoping she wasn't taking anyone else's chair.

The blonde turned to her. "Hi, I'm Ino." She started to say something else, but then a kid in a gray hoodie ran in, out of breath.

"He's coming! He's going to be on time today!" He collapsed in a seat near Naruto (Hinata's heart pounded even harder when she looked at him), in the back.

Hinata started getting her materials out in a rush, as she saw Sakura and Ino do, nervous for what this class beheld.

English turned out to be extremely uneventful. Kakashi didn't even notice she was a new student until Sakura pointed out to him that Hinata needed a copy of the book that they were reading. Thankfully, he handed her A Tale of Two Cities  quickly and quietly and didn't require her to introduce herself to the class. The rest of the class was spent reading quietly.

The rest of the day passed without incident either. She had Gai for gym next, but it was raining outside so instead of doing anything physical she learned about why rain should not stop them from exercising youthfully, but some parents didn't understand that and Gai had to respect that or else face a possible lawsuit involving forcing minors to do strenuous physical activity in unfavorable weather conditions. This worked to Hinata's advantage, for she was sure if they actually did anything Gai would have noticed she was a new student, and she had a feeling he wouldn't let her be very discrete about that.

Then she had chemistry, art, math, lunch, and history. Finally, the long day was over and she could FINALLY go home!

She was on her way to the parking lot with Sakura and Ino, who turned out to be very nice but was a tad excessively chatty, when the real trouble hit.

Standing in front of her shiny car was her cousin, malice radiating in his eyes. A gaggle of girls stood a few cars away, giggling and blushing at the sight of him.

A slow grin formed on Neji's face, but somehow it looked very wrong. "Hello, cousin," was all he said, but Hinata knew nothing good was going to come from it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! So this is the second chapter. I tried to upload as early as possible. I hope you guys like this chapter-I think it's better than the first one. I think I'll have the third one up tomorrow if not , please, review, favorite, follow…. It really motivates me to know that you guys like what I'm writing, and it gives me the inspiration to continue. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!**

Hinata felt her blood run cold. She hadn't seen Neji the entire day, so why was he loitering by her car, clearly full of malice? If Sakura and Ino noticed anything strange about Neji's greeting, they didn't show it. Sakura seemed slightly disinterested, and Ino was beginning to resemble one of her cousin's rabid fangirls, who were now hiding in the bushes a few feet away.

"H-hello, Neji," Hinata said as politely as she could, desperately trying to convey sincerity and warmth towards him.

Neji's eyes narrowed. "It's nice to see that against all odds you managed to make at least _some _friends. What, did you pay them or something?"

Hinata's mouth went dry. She suddenly had the desire to push her cousin's fanbase out of the way and jump into the prickly bushes herself. She forced herself to glance at Sakura out of the corner or her eye.

Sakura looked a little bit confused, obviously at a loss for what to say, but Ino quickly filled that gap.

"HAH-HAH-HAH! Oh, Neji, you are SO funny! You know how sweet Hinata is!" Ino batted her lashes and slapped her hands against her thighs. Inwardly, Hinata cringed but was thankful Ino interpreted Neji's insults as a joke. She hardly knew Ino at all, but honestly, didn't she know better than to throw herself at Neji, of all people?

Sakura now thought it was a joke too, and she laughed, though not as boisterously as Ino had.

Neji was now exasperated. "I wasn't _joking_. You think Hinata is so perfect?" He rolled his pale eyes. "Uncle Hiashi made Hinata switch to public school because she was such a fail-"

He was cut off by Sakura. "Oh, shit." Her face slowly drained of color, and Ino started laughing again. For a brief moment, Hinata felt her heart seize up in a panic. Why were Sakura and Ino reacting this way? Did they already know about her various shortcomings? Were they only pretending to be her friends as a way to gain her trust, find of her secrets, then use those to humiliate her in front of the entire school?

Before Hinata could imagine any more possible ways that her life could be ruined, it became very clear that Ino and Sakura had not been listening to a word Neji had been saying after his "funny joke".

"No, no,no,no,no. Please, please, don't come this way." Sakura murmured under her breath.

"Quick, hide me." Sakura tried to lunge behind Ino, but the blonde moved out of the way, leaving Sakura so wobbly Hinata had to help steady her.

"It's too late, he's already seen you." Ino said.

Hinata looked around and saw at once the only person they could be talking about. Wearing a green tracksuit (Hinata mentally noted it was very tacky and thought it looked like something a white rapper would wear if a golden chain was added), was a boy running at them, full speed ahead.

Sakura groaned. Ino giggled. Neji looked inexplicably pissed. Hinata noticed that the closer he came, the more he looked like a carbon copy of…. Coach Gai?

Suddenly, he was in front of them. "Sakura, may I say you look quite lovely today?"

Sakura looked like she wanted to crawl under a rock.

"Thanks, Lee." She said meekly. Lee beamed, then started to say something, but he spotted Hinata and stopped short.

"Ah, you must be Neji's cousin! I'm Rock Lee. It's a pleasure to meet you." He held out his hand, and Hinata tentatively extended hers. He shook her hand in a very awkward, robotic motion, but Hinata blushed anyway. Thankfully, Lee had already opened his mouth again and nobody noticed Hinata's embarrassment.

"Neji! Track tryouts are in a few minutes. We need to go so we aren't late. Coach Gai says that tardiness is one of the fastest ways to lose youth." Lee smiled in a hero-worship way as soon as he said 'Coach Gai'.

Neji seemed more miffed than ever. "I already told you I don't want to join the stupid track team again. Last year was bad enough."

Lee sighed. "But everyone else is trying out, and you know Coach Gai hardly cuts anyone. Tenten wanted me to ask you to try out too, so we could all train together again this year, but I guess I'll tell her you're too busy." Lee looked deflated.

Neji suddenly stood up a little bit straighter and seemed lost in thought. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, he spoke. "Ok, I'll try out this year." His voice sounded different than Hinata had ever heard it-softer, maybe even caring?

As quickly as him warm demeanor had come over him, it left. He turned to Hinata once more, but Lee pulled him off and towards the gym, listing different ways Coach Gai planned to warm the runners up.

Hinata took a deep breath in, grateful her heartbeat was beginning to stabilize. She hadn't even realized how fast it had been beating the entire time she was around Neji.

"Lee is so weird." Sakura's voice brought Hinata back to the real world. "Sorry you had to meet him on your first day, Hinata. He doesn't give off a very normal impression of Konoha High."

Hinata only smiled back at her friends. She would have said something, but she inwardly feared that her voice would be shaky and breathy. After all, that meeting with Neji had scared her half to death.

Ino pulled out her phone and checked the time. "Oh my God, I can't believe it's already 3:30. I have to get back home and work at the shop. Sakura, we gotta go."

So the three girls said their goodbyes, and Hinata got into her car and watched as Sakura and Ino walked towards Ino's car, so oblivious to the tension between the two Hyugas.

Hinata sat in her car for a few minutes after they drove off, wishing the day wasn't over already. In theory, she knew she should be happy. Her first day of a new school was completely finished and she even made some knew friends _and _avoided any major incidents with Neji.

However, she still felt the beginnings of fear creep into her mind. There was only one thing she could do at the moment: go home and face her father.

He was bad enough to face on a regular day, but after he pulled her out of private school he had become almost unbearable. Hinata turned the radio up much higher than she normally would in hopes of drowning out her nervous thoughts. The fifteen minutes it took her to drive home seemed like seconds, and Hinata found herself outside her father's office door. On a day to day basis, she knew she was never supposed to disturb him, but this morning he had instructed her to come to him as soon as she returned home.

She took a shaking fist and knocked it three times against the ornate glass door, waiting with baited breath.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Here's the next chapter! Please rate it or like it…. And I absolutely love reviews! They make me so happy, like I just want to dance around to cheesy love music wherever I am when I see I get a new review!**

Hinata's delicate hands flew over the varying white and black keys with close to perfect accuracy and precision. At last, the song was done.

When Hiashi had spoken with Hinata earlier, he was still none too pleased with her and informed her that it was a disgrace to have a family member from the main house attending public school, and that when she finally decided to cease her weak and useless tendencies that she could return a prestigious school, where the Hyuga belonged. Then he had swiftly banished her to practice the piano, something even he begrudgingly admitted she did well.

So here she sat, at last done with her daily practice, staring down at her hands while her tired mind swam with a cluster of thoughts, some vague, some intrusive, some reminiscent of her younger days. Finally, she went to bed and was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, plunged into the soft and dizzying dreamworld.

The next day, she must have looked as well-rested as she felt, for during lunch Ino started interrogating her over what products she had used to miraculously cure her dark under-eye circles. However, Ino was interrupted just as she began rattling off a list of expensive, high-end concealers after instructing Hinata to stop her when she named the correct one.

"Hey guys!" A loud voice called, and Hinata felt her heart skip a beat. Less than a second later, that blonde boy, Naruto, plopped down in the seat next to Sakura, which meant he was sitting directly across from Hinata. _Wow._

Hinata felt a tiny bit of color rise into her cheeks, and she tore her gaze away from him.

"Guess what guys?" He asked, then continued without letting anybody actually guess. "I'm having a party at my place this Friday night. You guys should all come! Crap, well I gotta go finish my chemistry project with Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji. Hey, I'll give you the details tomorrow, kay?"

He was gone as quickly as he came, heading in a rush to where Hinata assumed was the library.

Sakura seemed kind of annoyed. "Why are all the guys waiting until right now to do their project? I mean, it's due tomorrow!"

"What p-project?" Hinata asked, wondering how she could ever get behind on her second day of school.

"Don't worry, you don't have to do it. It was assigned like a month ago but all the idiots waited to do it at the last minute." Ino appeared to share Sakura's annoyance. "But after tomorrow, they'll all be back at lunch in here so it won't have to be just the three of us anymore."

"W-who else s-sits here?" Hinata asked. Now she was curious. After all, she just assumed Sakura and Ino only sat with each other before she arrived.

"Oh, just some kids in our grade. Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji, sit with us every day, but some days this kid Shino sits with us, and sometimes Lee does too. And Sasuke too, of course." Sakura popped a strawberry into her mouth, sharing a dreamy look with Ino.

Hinata assumed it was better not to ask. She didn't want Ino to feel….. obliged to give her the run-down of the "hottest, yummiest" guys of the school (she supposed Ino would say something like that).

Ino took a sip of her Coca-Cola. "Hey, are you two going to go to Naruto's party?"

Sakura shrugged. "Probably, yeah. Hey, Hinata, are you gonna go?"

Hinata blushed and shook her head. "I-I'm not so sure… After a-all, I only just m-met you all and I'm n-not sure-"

Ino almost snorted up her drink. "C'mon, it would be fun. Let's all go! Hey, we should meet up at my house before the party to get ready. And you guys can sleep over at my house Friday night if you want, it's gonna be the weekend."

Sakura smiled. "Sounds fun. Hinata, you in?"

While Hinata knew it would displease her father to know that she was going to a party and staying over a friend's house (he would probably refer to Ino and Sakura as commoners), she also knew nothing made Hiashi happier than having Hinata out of his thoughts. And of out sight out of mind, right?

Hinata smiled back at the girls. "Y-yes."

The rest of the week was dull and long. Hinata became friends with Choji, Kiba, Shikamaru, Shino, and even Naruto(!), studied, avoided Neji, and above all else, wished it was Friday.

After long last, Friday arrived. The day passed rather quickly, and finally, FINALLY, the bell rang. Hinata met up with her friends by Ino's car, and climbed in the backseat while Sakura and Ino got in the front. Normally, Hinata drove to school, but because she knew she was going to leave with Ino, she had the Hyuga family driver drop her off instead.

She soon realized that Ino liked pretty things. A lot.

Her closet was just as large as HInata's, if not larger, and she had vast collections of jewelry, makeup, and perfume.

She and Sakura shared a sly look with each other. Ino cleared her throat. "So, Hinata, I was thinking that maybe you could borrow one of my dresses tonight. You know, to catch someone's attention, maybe like, _oh I don't know, _Naruto's?"

Hinata was caught off guard. "W-what?"

Sakura went into Ino's closet and looked around. "Hinata, we know you like him. It's really sweet, actually. Most people who meet him hate him at first."

Ino was scrutinizing her bottles of perfumes, but suddenly looked up. "But you don't! Now, let's make you look like a movie star!"

Ino joined Sakura and started pulling random garments out, while Hinata stood back and watched, a slight expression of panic etched onto her face.

_This is going to be one interesting night._


End file.
